It’s the time of year when you wake up in the morning and you’re not quite sure if it’s still the middle of the night; the few months when all you want to do is wear your dressing gown to work. But just like everyone else you have signed a deal with the devil to lose 60lb, quit smoking, and cut back on the gin and tonics.

Nearly two weeks into the New Year, the deflation period begins. All the festive adverts on TV have been replaced with medicines for the well anticipated flu and cold; Davina McCall has brought out her latest fitness DVD which tells us to put down Nigella Lawson’s all butter Yule log and Nicorette have caught on to the idea that we all try to quit smoking…  again.

So after the clinking of the glasses and cheering our New Year resolutions, how many of us have actually kept them? I believe not many. As soon as next New Year hits these same resolutions will come rolling of our tongues. All it is, is a money making scheme. We know in our heads that we don’t need to buy a pair of trainers because they claim to help you lose weight as you walk. Any normal shoe and the movement of our legs will probably do the job.

The normal way of thinking usually goes something like this: get thin, get healthy, and get active! The reality of this is, 2 days at the gym, before you catch a cold, feel like death, get drunk and pig out. (Everyone knows eating stops your throat from feeling like an open wound). The battle of the bulge will always be just that. A battle: so easy to start, impossible to finish.

So why do we make these same old resolutions year after year; Tradition? Who knows, but what has also become a yearly ritual is to give up every resolution you make 2 weeks after you’ve made it. Clearly old habits never die. But with Easter just around the corner and Cadbury sending subliminal images of cream-eggs we all may as well give up now. We can always try again next year.